1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to forced electrolyte batteries generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel system and method for controlling the output voltage of such batteries by controlling the rate of flow of electrolyte therethrough.
2. Background Art
Forced electrolyte flow batteries are employed, for example, in underwater applications such as in the powering of sonobuoys, in which seawater is used as the electrolyte for the batteries. The flow of seawater may be caused by thermal and density differences or it may be caused by a pump.
Heretofore, output voltage of such batteries has been controlled by means of conventional voltage regulators. Voltage regulators are disadvantageous, however, in that they generally consume a relatively high level of power and are not entirely reliable.
It is known that the output voltage of such a battery is proportional to the rate of flow of electrolyte therethrough, due to the change in operating temperature of the battery as the flow of electrolyte varies.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide system and method for controlling the output voltage of batteries of the type having a flow of electrolyte therethrough, the system and method controlling the voltage by varying the rate of flow of electrolyte therethrough.
It is another object of the invention to provide such system and method that are simple, reliable, and economical.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.